A Beautiful and Terrible Truth

Chapter 39

All the air was knocked out of me as I was slammed against the wall of the barn, which then fell onto the ground. I opened my eyes to see massive amounts of smoke just billowing across the sky above me. I sat up, slowly as pain shot through my back, and looked around. Francis was running over to me and Cecily, who landed almost right beside me. I stood up and saw that at the bottom of the hill was on fire. The whole village of Wrapping was on fire.

Ceicily shrieked as she saw the terrible scene as well. Gavin just put his arm around her, but Francis just shook his head. "We need to go."

"Now!" Gavin yelled as we saw the spells being shot up at us from the wizards that were running towards us.

We ran in the opposite direction, but it was no use. We were surrounded on all sides. A circle of Deatheaters was encircling all four of us. Cecily and I both shouted at the same time for we both saw the same face, although we shouted completely different names. We both looked from the man to each other before a red spell knocked me down to the ground, face first. I looked up from the ground not liking what I had seen next. Daniel/Draco was hugging Cecily. He pulled from her, and with a tender kiss he turned from her and started sending a cloud of spells into the men that he had come with. Next thing I knew as I was going to stand up was a spell piercing Daniel straight through the heart. Tears automatically pricked my eyes as I was up on both my legs and started running into the deatheaters, but every body had turned to smoke. I stopped dead in my tracks and looked behind me. Cecily was frozen with her arms reaching for Daniel with a tear streaked face. Then all at once they all disappeared, and I was standing on a beach – the same beach that I had spent the summer on with Ron and Kam.

"Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?" I heard a male's voice and started to walk towards it. "To have and to hold for the rest of your life?"

There was a wedding on the beach. It looked as if it was me in a wedding dress; one that wasn't from my century. I smiled as I saw that Cecily was smiling from ear to ear, but that quickly went away as I saw the sadness in her eyes. I walked a little closer, trying not to be seen to see that she was marrying Ron – I mean, Rupert. I closed my eyes and shook my head. This was not the way it was supposed to happen. Cecily and Daniel were supposed to be together, but he died because he protected her. A tear fell down my cheek, and I opened my eyes. When I opened them though, I was somewhere else.

Over and over again, I watched the same story. A girl that was before me, sometimes didn't look like me or even have the same kind of name, but she would start out with a love story exactly like mine but would end the same way: Draco's guy dying and my girl marrying Ron's portrayal. My heart was torn out of my chest again and again. Until I finally landed in my time, on the gravel with a large thud. Draco's arms instantly wrapping around my draining body.

I pulled from him and looked him in the eye. "This has to stop."

He swallowed hard. "Do I want to know what happens?"

I shrugged. "I think that's the reason you're here. So you know what exactly to look for, to protect yourself from this terrible cycle."

He looked confused. "Protect myself? It's all about protecting you."

"No, Draco." I shook my head and pulled him closer. "It's you that needs protecting this time."

He sighed. "What exactly do I need to protect myself from?"

"Death." I looked back up at him. "You need to stop protecting me. It's what's going to get you killed, Draco. I can't have you around. You need to go. Stop trying to protect me because I'm not the one that's going to die in this war."

He shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to stay with you. The cycle will stop if we are together and not apart."

"You just told me you weren't staying the whole night. That you needed to leave."

"Well, change of plans," he breathes in, trying to keep tears in. "We need to be together."

"No, this is the change of plans: you and your friends are leaving tonight. Right now. You are going back to your house and going through with whatever you need to do. Staying alive is the new plan. Got it?" I said, pushing away from him and walking back to the house.

He grabbed me by the arm. "I can't leave you, Courtney. Not again."

"Promise me," I took my arm from his grasp and held out my pinky finger to him. "Promise me that you are going to go back so you and I can be together one day."

He looked down. "Court-"

"Do it!" I yelled, fresh tears streaming down my face. "Promise me right now!"

He wrapped his pinky around mine and looked into my eyes. With a weak voice he said: "I promise."

A/n: Well, this is the end of A Beautiful and Terrible Truth. Worth the wait huh? Anyone want to make a cover for Keeping a Promise? It would be very appreciated! Just send them to me over wattpad. :)